


one piece at a time

by entwashian



Category: Leverage
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Multi, Soul Bond, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-04
Updated: 2018-01-04
Packaged: 2019-02-28 06:12:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13265397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/entwashian/pseuds/entwashian
Summary: A soul bond is supposed to be between 2 people. But Alec & Parker have always had trouble following the rules.





	one piece at a time

**Author's Note:**

  * For [cadenzamuse](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cadenzamuse/gifts).



“I got stuck,” Parker says, her voice small. 

The light streaming in through the window turns her ponytail into a golden aura around her head. She has her arms wrapped around herself, and she won’t look at him. 

It freaks Alec the fuck out, because Parker has never been anything but direct with him. 

“Hey,” he says, crossing the space that divides them, and puts his hands on her shoulders to turn her until she faces him. “It's okay, baby. Whatever it is, you can tell me.”

He runs his hands up and down her arms, though he’s the one with goosebumps. 

“It won’t come off,” she says, holding out her left wrist. “The job’s done, but it won't come off.”

Alec glances down, sees what’s written there, and reaches for her right hand -- the one Parker still has cradled to her chest. 

His name is there, right where he’d left it several months ago. They'd been talking about formalizing their bond for weeks, Alec trying to convince Parker to go before the registrar, when Parker appeared late one night with a vial of etheankaustron ink. He wasn't surprised that she had broken several federal statutes to acquire the controlled substance, but he was a little put out that she'd decided to pull the job without his assistance. 

Nevertheless, Alec had poured some of the ink into the cap of an empty soda bottle, because he didn't happen to have an ink pot handy, and moved on to the final step of the ritual. He signed his name with an actual feather -- kind of old school for Parker -- and he’d watched as the ink settled into the soft skin of her inner right wrist. 

Then she had stripped him bare and scrawled her name in large strokes across his hip, and he had kind of seen her point about not wanting the registrar’s presence. 

But three days ago, Nate had needed two team members to pose as a newly-bonded couple for a cover on a job. And in a series of truly complex and Ford-ian reasons, he had explained that it couldn't be the _actually_ bonded couple. 

So Alec had stood and watched as his soulmate wrote her name on another man's skin. Eliot had flicked his eyes toward Alec before accepting the pen from Parker, then signed his own name upon her left wrist. 

Unable to help himself, Alec swipes his thumb across Parker’s left wrist. The ink, of course, refuses to budge. 

“It was a _ballpoint pen_ ,” Alec says, his voice almost squeaky with disbelief. 

“It's been hard for me,” Parker says, “working as a team. But this job was easy.”

Alec tries to follow her explanation. “Working as a team was easy? Because of Eliot,” he guesses. 

Parker shrugs. “I thought it was because I'd finally learned how. But it was because of **this**.” She thrusts her wrist at his face, and Alec does a little bob and weave to avoid getting smacked. 

“Parker,” he says carefully, as gently as he can, “you know you can't get a soul mark if you're not in love.”

“I didn't mean it!” Parker insists. “This is all Nate’s fault!”

“It's nobody's fault,” Alec tries, fumbling for the right words. “There is no fault, okay? It's not a bad thing that you love Eliot. It means that you were right -- that you learned to work as a team, and that you need him as much as he needs you.”

“But I need **you**.” Parker frowns, the skin on her forehead puckering in confusion. 

Alec smiles at her and places her hand on his clothed hip, just above the soul mark of her name. “You have me, baby. You always will. But that doesn't mean I have to be the only thing in your life. You have a lot to give.”

“Like Oprah.” Parker nods. 

“Uh, yeah. I mean, kinda,” Alec concedes. If that’s the metaphor that works for her… 

Parker reaches out with one finger and bops him on the nose. “You get a car!”

“As long as we don't tell Lucille.” Alec agrees. He watches Parker smile, then watches her face grow serious again. 

“You really think Eliot needs me, too?”

“Of course he does! It's a two-way street. You both have to feel it, or you'd both --” Alec breaks off, thinking through the implications for the first time. “Or you'd both have rejected the mark. If _you_ have a mark, so does he.”

“Yeah. But he doesn't have a Hardison to tell him it's okay.”

“No. He doesn't.” Alec reaches for the phone in his pocket, but Parker has it out first. She holds it up for him. 

He dials Eliot’s number. 

“Hardison.” Eliot picks up immediately. His voice is rough with tension. 

“Yours wouldn't come off, either, would it?” Alec asks. 

“No.”

“Good,” Alec says firmly. 

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. Can you come over?”

“Be there in 15.” Eliot hangs up. 

Alec’s palms are sweaty. He wipes them on his pants. 

“You need him, too,” Parker says. 

Alec nods. He does. 

“Everybody gets a car!” Parker laughs, and pulls him in for a brief kiss. 

“We should probably decide what we're going to say. When Eliot gets here,” Alec says. 

“You just have to say all that mushy stuff about how we need him and he needs us. We already know that he likes me. What's the worst that could happen?” Apparently it’s Parker's turn to be sensible while he panics about Feelings. 

Alec considers this. “Or we could hide,” he counters. “Do you think Eliot would find us in the air ducts?”

Parker pulls back, encircling her left wrist with the fingers of her right hand. 

“Eliot could find us anywhere.”


End file.
